Canberra, Australia – Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery regarding the enormous underwater eruption off the coast of Tonga in early 2022. According to a new study, the event was triggered by a rare process not typically associated with volcanic eruptions. The findings suggest that the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano was the result of an explosion with a force equivalent to five of North Korea’s largest underground nuclear blasts in 2017.
On January 15, 2022, the eruption of the volcano was so powerful that it filled the Earth’s atmosphere with water, creating a new hole in the ozone layer. This unprecedented event, which took place beneath the Pacific Ocean, set records by producing the largest volcanic plume ever recorded and generating one of the loudest sounds in history.
Despite the vast amount of seismic data collected from the eruption, scientists had previously struggled to explain what caused the violent eruption of Hunga Tonga. To unravel the mystery, researchers developed a model that integrated various components of the data, including the moment tensor for earthquakes and the single force for volcanic eruptions. The model indicated a massive upward force that corresponded to the magnitude of the eruption.
The study suggests that the eruption resulted from a shallow underwater explosion that propelled the water above the volcano upwards. This release of pressure on the compressed rock beneath caused it to rebound with tremendous force. The researchers propose that the interaction between gas-compressed rock and the shallow sea created conditions akin to an overcooked pressure cooker, challenging the conventional belief that interactions between hot magma and cold seawater cause such explosive underwater volcanic events.
While the researchers acknowledge that their model is subject to debate, they assert that their calculations support the viability of the proposed mechanism. By analyzing seismic waveform data, researchers observed a significant vertical force pointing upward during the event, indicating the upward rebound of the solid earth after the water column was uplifted.
The findings of this study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, shed light on the complex processes that culminated in the unprecedented underwater eruption off the coast of Tonga in 2022. The discovery provides valuable insights into the potential triggers of such violent volcanic events and highlights the need for further research into understanding and predicting similar phenomena in the future.